THIS IS INCREDIBLE! From: The Corpsman (Original Message) Sent: 10/28/2003 9:50 AM You serve your country. You are proud to serve your country! You are a prisoner of war, disabled by the enemy. You can not get POW benefits because a Federal Court says the foreign policy of the United states in the region is at stake and could be jeopardized by a precedent setting case. The fact that our current government uses the courts against us makes the government of the country we served no better than the enemies we fought. Why did we even bother to go? Why are we sending our sons and daughters out to be slaughtered in the name of Special Interests and , if they come home, to have the courts deny them their benefits in the name of due process? Does someone have the answer to this question? _______________________________ U.S. court blocks payouts to ex-POWs White House says money is vital for a new Iraq October 27, 2003 BY MILES BENSON NEWHOUSE NEWS SERVICE WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is quietly piling up victories in a legal battle to block payments to 17 U.S. combat veterans who were captured and tortured in the 1991 Persian Gulf War and won a suit against Iraq for nearly $1 billion. The former POWs -- whipped, beaten, burned, electrically shocked and starved by their Iraqi captors in 1991 -- say they are baffled by the administration's refusal to let them collect any of Iraq's assets now under U.S. control, and by the Justice Department's efforts to overturn a federal court decision upholding their claims to compensation. "I don't understand why they want to see this case go away," said Lt. Col. Dave Storr of Spokane, Wash., who currently is an airline pilot and serves in the Air National Guard. "My country can be mistaken," Storr said, "but I'll still serve it and love it. I'm proud to wear the uniform, no matter what comes." Parachuting through a fireball after his Air Force plane was hit by ground fire on Feb. 2, 1991, Storr, then a captain, was captured by the Iraqis and beaten, kicked in the head and urinated on. During interrogation sessions, guards shocked him with an electrical device, beat him with clubs, broke his nose, dislocated his shoulder and burst his left eardrum. He was held 33 days. The government that heaped praise and medals on the ex-POWs has drawn a line at extracting a financial price from Iraq for their ordeal. White House spokesman Trent Duffy referred all questions about the dispute to the Justice Department, where officials would not comment because the matter is still in litigation. Policy implications In court filings, the government asserts sweeping presidential power to block the claims because of the "weighty foreign policy interests at stake." It does not dispute details of the POWs' suffering. "The United States government fully recognizes the brutal actions to which the plaintiffs here were subjected as they heroically served their country and made sacrifices during the Gulf War in 1991," the Justice Department acknowledges. "Plaintiffs' suffering at the hands of the former Iraqi government officials cannot be excused or forgotten. "Nevertheless, the political branches of our government have decided that, now that the oppressive regime of Saddam Hussein has been removed from power, U.S. sanctions against Iraq based on its support of terrorism must be removed." The former POWs launched their lawsuit in April 2002 under a 1996 law that allows terrorist nations, so designated by the State Department, to be sued for personal injuries to U.S. nationals, including prisoners of war. They argued that they were tortured in violation of the Geneva Conventions' ban on mistreatment of POWs. Their position was strengthened last November when Congress passed and Bush signed into law a terrorism insurance bill allowing Americans to collect court-ordered compensatory damages from frozen assets of terrorist states. Seesaw court battle U.S. District Judge Richard Roberts ordered Iraq on July 7 -- roughly three months after the fall of Hussein's regime -- to pay the 17 ex-POWs and their families $653 million in compensatory damages and $306 million in punitive damages for torturing the men. Roberts ordered a temporary freeze on $653 million in Iraqi assets, then held in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, as a source of funds for the settlement. At that point, the Justice Department stepped in, asking the judge to throw out the judgment against Iraq. The government's attorneys quoted L. Paul Bremer, the presidential envoy to Iraq, as saying, "Restricting these funds as a result of this litigation would affect adversely the ability of the United States to achieve security and stability in the region, would compromise the safety of U.S. forces and Iraqi civilians, and would be harmful to U.S. national security interests." On July 30, Roberts ruled that Bush had the power to prevent the frozen Iraqi funds from being awarded to the ex-POWs. But Roberts refused to overturn his original finding that the men are entitled to compensation from Iraq. He said the Justice Department's motion to have the entire compensation judgment thrown out was "meritless." Lawyers for the ex-POWs appealed the judge's decision upholding the president's power to deny access to the frozen Iraqi assets, but the administration position was affirmed. Now the Justice Department is appealing Roberts' original decision that the former POWs are entitled to compensation. Navy Lt. Jeffrey Zaun of Jersey City, N.J., was a navigator aboard an A6 Intruder on Jan. 17, 1991, when it was downed by an Iraqi missile. He was captured, and when he refused to provide information to interrogators about his mission and the location of U.S. forces, he was repeatedly karate-chopped in the throat. Kept for weeks in a darkened cell, he was beaten and twice subjected to mock executions. He was held 46 days. Zaun, today a financial analyst for Standard & Poor's and a commander in the Naval Reserve, said he isn't surprised that the Bush administration opposes the ex-POWs' bid for compensation, given what he termed the administration's aversion to tort claims. But they should get over it, he said. "I didn't want to deploy, either, but when they said to go I went," Zaun said. "Sometimes it's necessary to get in these people's faces and take their money. It's a great way to hurt the folks who financed bad guys." Jeff Fox of Surfside Beach, S.C., who was held 15 days after his A10 was shot down over southern Iraq on Feb. 19, 1991, said he is surprised by the administration's position. "It sends a very bad message that a commander in chief would place veterans and prisoners of war second behind a foreign nation," he said. "Deep down, I think" Bush "knows very little about it." Nation/World deputy editor PETER GAVRILOVICH, who edited this report, can be reached at 313 222-8655 or gavrilovich@freepress.com.